Disney

From all of us – to all of you… A modern Disney Christmas special that even your own Uncle Scrooge will like. The latest of the new Mickey Mouse shorts series, Duck the Halls: A Mickey Mouse Christmas Special, premiering Friday December 9th (8:30-9:00 p.m., ET) on Disney Channel, the Disney Channel app and Disney […]

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Nickelodeon

Albert, Nickelodeon’s first original, animated made-for-TV movie, tells the story of a small Christmas tree with a big dream. It premiers on Friday, Dec. 9th, at 7:00 pm, with the voice talents of Bobby Moynihan in the title role and Sasheer Zamata, Judah Friedlander and Rob Riggle in lead roles. I spoke to Chris Viscardi, […]

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Commentary

Gone With the Wind, The Godfather, Star Wars, and The Dark Knight; live-action films lauded far and wide with critical acclaim, financial success and cultural importance. In the west (and the US in particular) films are looked to as cultural barometers that can signify which way the winds are blowing, and more importantly, the direction […]

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Michigan-based video distributor Inkwell Images has just released, this week, a set of previously lost Toby The Pup cartoons on DVD and blu-ray. This series of forgotten cartoon shorts – created by famed Disney/Fleischer animator Dick Huemer and produced by Charles Mintz – lasted one season in 1930-31 with twelve cartoons in theatrical release through […]

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Independent

Universal has released the first teaser trailer for its live action/animation hybrid Pica-Pau (aka “Woody Woodpecker”), set to be released next year in Brazil. The teaser dropped during Comic Con Experience, a pop-culture event being held this weekend in São Paulo. Filmed in Vancouver, Canada and directed by Alex Zamm (Inspector Gadget 2), the movie […]

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Anime

Writer-director Makoto Shinkai’s runaway hit Your Name. (Kimi No Na Wa) is the year’s number one box office hit in Japan and the sixth-highest grossing film of all time there. Since it opened in August, it’s earned more than ¥19.4 billion (about US $174 million), more than any animated film not directed by Hayao Miyazaki. […]

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Disney

Disney Junior’s animated Mickey and the Roadster Racers, a madcap car-racing adventure series for preschoolers led by Disney’s #1 star, Mickey Mouse, and his pals Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Daisy and Donald, will make its television debut in a simulcast Sunday January 15th (9:00 and 9:25 a.m., EST) on Disney Channel and Disney Junior. Two more […]

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The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced nominations today for its 44th Annual Annie Awards recognizing the year’s best in the field of animation. For a complete list of nominations, please visit The Annie Awards website. This year’s Best Animated Feature nominations include: Finding Dory (Pixar Animation Studios), Kubo and the Two Strings (Laika), Kung […]

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Independent

The Late Night Work Club collective debuts its the second anthology today, the 42-minute compilation “Strangers” – online now (embed below) – which includes new films from Loup Blaster, Jeanette Bonds, Sean Buckelew, Alex Grigg, Kirsten Lepore, Nicolas Ménard & Caleb Wood with interstitial animation by Charles Huettner and original music by Skillbard, David Kamp, […]

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Longtime King Features animation producer Al Brodax passed away Thanksgiving evening. The news was announced on Facebook by Beatle cartoon historian (and Brodax friend) Mitchell Axelrod this evening. While his best known screen credit may be as producer (and co-writer) of the ground breaking 1968 animated feature, Yellow Submarine, Brodax had a vast career in […]

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